Video released by Nasa shows a spectacular view of the Earth as seen from the International Space Station (ISS). The video shows city lights and lightning flashes as the ISS orbits the planet.

Nasa describes the ISS as a "microgravity laboratory", occupied by six people travelling at a speed of five miles per second and orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes. The space station has been occupied continuously since November 2000; in that time 222 people from 18 countries have visited the station.

British astronaut Tim Peake recently joined the ISS in December 2015 for Expedition 46/47, making him the first British ESA astronaut to do so, and only the second astronaut to bear a British flag patch.